


Kiss It Better

by ButterfliesAndPenguins



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Reigisa solves everything, brief bullying, nagirei - Freeform, reigisa - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 21:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2403116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButterfliesAndPenguins/pseuds/ButterfliesAndPenguins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"To Rei’s dismay, he now noticed Nagisa’s insistence on kissing just about anything injured or even broken to complete his imaginary healing ritual, from bruised knees to roadside caterpillars and even Rei’s cracked pencil lead until Rei thought his sanity would unravel like the fatal thread being pulled on an old sweater. Having never noticed this habit in his teammate before, Rei sometimes wondered if Nagisa had recently invented the affectation just to toy with his mental stability."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kiss It Better

**Author's Note:**

> More cuteness for your Reigisa hearts. This takes place somewhere between seasons 1 and 2 in some swimming trials I just made up. Take your insulin and buckle up, everyone.

" _Haru!_ You're bleeding!"

"Huh?" Haru pulled the towel off his head, blinking slowly at Makoto.

"It's okay, don't move. We'll get help."

"What's the matter? Is Haruka-senpai hurt?" Rei leaped from the pool anxiously. "I've taken classes in first-aid and CPR, I can help! I knew this could happen sooner or later with the dangers of water activities without a lifeguard, so I—"

His fretting was interrupted by a large splash as a blond head surfaced at the poolside. 

"Ooh, there's blood? Where?"

"Nagisa-kun, this is no time to get excited, Haruka-senpai could be seriously injured—"

"It's all right, Rei," Makoto assured him with measured calm, "it's only his foot. Gou, would you please contact Ama-chan-sensei and ask for some bandages?"

"Yes, Makoto-senpai!" Gou jogged off with a slight air of importance.

"Haru, come sit down."

The dark-haired swimmer turned up his chin. "I don't see anything. It's fine."

"Now, now, Haru. Athletes need to take care of their injuries." Makoto laughed in his hypnotically gentle way and Haru blinked again, sinking into a lawn chair with a slight daze and lifting his foot. His left big toe was blotched with red streaked thin by pool water, which had left a dark stain on the cement.

Nagisa gasped dramatically, tugging himself out of the pool.

"Ohhh, what happened, Haru-chan?"

"Did you injure yourself during a dive, Haruka-senpai? It's important to examine the whole area, hairline fractures can often go unnoticed and be extremely dangerous if—"

"He probably swam so fast that his toes started ripping off," Nagisa wiggled his fingers in a crude demonstration.

"You must have scraped against the cement at the bottom of the pool, Haru," Makoto smiled, waving off Nagisa's theory. "That happens to me a lot. I'll be glad when we can finally train in an indoor pool."

Gou returned out of breath with a first-aid kit. "Amakata-sensei says we'll be all right with this. Unless we need the nurse…?” She hovered eagerly.

“I think we’ll be fine with some bandages,” Makoto assured them, unwrapping some fresh guaze.

“I don’t need those,” Haru frowned. “Just let me get back in the pool, the water will heal me.” He tried to stand, but was pushed back down by Makoto’s firm hand.

“Not exactly, Haru. Sit still. It’ll never clot in the water, and you’ll only get more chemicals in it.”

Haru scowled and extended his foot grudgingly as Makoto wrapped it patiently. Nagisa inched forward curiously as he toweled his own hair dry.

“Poor Haru-chan.”

“There, all done,” Makoto ran a thumb over the last bandage to seal it.

 “Not yet!” Nagisa swooped down and lifted up the newly-dressed foot. “If it hurts, kiss it better!” To Rei’s horror, he planted an exaggerated kiss on the offending big toe.

Rei’s jaw dropped. “Nagisa-kun, don’t go kissing other peoples’ feet, it’s completely unsanitary!”

“They’ve been in the water,” Haru said defensively.

“See, Rei-chan? It’s fine!”

“Stagnant pool water is hardly a disinfectant! Besides, that particular home remedy is only a psychological trick for children, it’s hardly a viable medical treatment for any—“

“Stop being childish, Nagisa,” Haru tugged his heel from the blonde’s grasp with sudden self-awareness.

Makoto smiled slyly. “Well, Haru, does it hurt anymore?”  
            Haru frowned at his bulbously swaddled toe.

“No.”

“See?” Nagisa grinned as Rei sighed in exasperation. Makoto laughed again and helped Haru to his feet.

“I think we can call it a day for practice anyway,” he told them, causing Rei to remember that he was, after all, the team captain. “Let’s head home.”

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa peered into his face as they prepared to leave, “your eyebrow is twitching. Do you need me to kiss that better, too?”

“ _Absolutely not!!_ ”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

To Rei’s dismay, he now noticed Nagisa’s insistence on kissing just about _anything_ injured or even broken to complete his imaginary healing ritual, from bruised knees to roadside caterpillars and even Rei’s cracked pencil lead until Rei thought his sanity would unravel like the fatal thread being pulled on an old sweater. Having never noticed this habit in his teammate before, Rei sometimes wondered if Nagisa had recently invented the affectation just to toy with his mental stability.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The end-of-summer trials for the following season arrived on a particularly scorching day and the Iwatobi team was eager to begin their first full year with a strong start. Nagisa chattered to Rei as they prepared for their events in the crowded locker rooms solicited by several other competing schools.

Even Rei found himself caught up in the excitement and the fresh change to prove himself as a competitive swimmer. He fell into his friend’s easy banter until an unfamiliar voice sneered through his ambient auditory awareness.

“ _Scrawny little kid, isn’t he?_ ”

Rei froze in disbelief, hoping against the steep probability that he knew who they were referring to. He raised his voice hastily in conversation with Nagisa, becoming suddenly enthusiastic about the competitive advantage of indoor pool PH levels over outdoor ones.

The snide remarks began pressing in on them from all sides.

“I know it’s illegal to use graduated students at a race, but are they allowed to bring gradeschoolers? I guess there’s no rules against recruiting kids if you can’t even get enough members to start a team.”

“Well I _know_ there’s a rule against bringing girls to the boys’ circuit,” sniffed another wickedly.

Rei felt his own ears burning, attempting a glance at Nagisa’s face, but his teammate had turned away toward the lockers in obvious distress.

“Trying to pass as a 10-year-old boy until your tits grow in won’t work, you know,” called another, purposely audible.

Rei rounded on them furiously.

“How can you be so insufferably arrogant to speak about another person like that?? Let alone, a fellow competitor!? You’re here to race in collaborative sportsmanship and good faith, not to tout your insecurities by ridiculing strangers to satisfy your childish need for constant approval!”

Scoffs of “Tch,” “Hey, back off, glasses,” and “What did he even just say?” wafted through the crowded locker room. The other teams seemed either oblivious or purposely ignorant.

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa grabbed his wrist. “Just leave it, let’s get ready,” he kept his voice unusually low.

“But Nagisa-kun, this is absurd, it’s against the rules of competition. Someone should report—“

They’re only bullies, just ignore them,” Nagisa forced a limp smile. “Come on, Rei-chan, it’s not worth getting angry before the race.”

“But—“ Rei’s protest faltered when he noticed the hollow tone in Nagisa’s voice and watched him gather his gear stiffly. Rei could tell by the way Nagisa squinted that their appalling sentiments were painfully familiar. The blonde moved slowly, and Rei guessed he was purposely ensuring the antagonists would exit first.

“See you on the block, shrimp.”

The last comment (a pathetic attempt at an insult, Rei thought) was flung back at them vaguely through the doorway. Nagisa hesitated, pulling his goggles around his neck, ears going slightly red.

Rei’s mind spun, worried for his teammate’s concentration. He still wore the same determined grit as ever, but Rei knew the petty insults had shaken him more than he let on. He tensed anxiously, growing more and more indignant at their cutting insults to one who was clearly already at a disadvantage and yet made up for it in his performance with determination as much as Rei himself had done. He clenched his fists, blood boiling amid his swirling thoughts. Finally one ridiculous voice that had been burned into his subconscious surfaced above all the others.

“ _If it hurts, kiss it better!_ ”

Rei went rigid with embarrassment, feeling a bit like bolting for the pool and butterflying into the distance until he disappeared entirely. The thought made him shiver in his swimsuit, but the breaststroke heat was taking the starting blocks and time was running out. He couldn’t let a teammate down. Not one he owed so much to.

Rei straightened his glasses, sizing up Nagisa’s reddened ears with a glance over each shoulder, held his breath, and took aim.

He caught a whiff of stale chlorine from Nagisa’s hair and heard the quiet, distinctly unbeautiful chirp of his kiss just behind Nagisa’s temple.

Nagisa was still startlingly immobile when he pulled away, and Rei nearly began to panic. To both his relief and terror, the blonde turned wide eyes to him, gaping in surprise.

“…Rei-chan?”

“I—“ Rei stuttered, not having forseen a need to _defend_ this action at Nagisa’s own suggestion. “Y—“

“ _???_ ”

“ _!!!_ ”

“Rei-chan, wh—“

“You said to ‘kiss it better’! You had to hear all those appalling remarks, which seemed extremely unpleasant and hurtful, so I thought— I mean, your ears were— I WAS JUST FOLLOWING YOUR SUGGESTION, I DON’T SEE HOW I’M THE ONE IN THE WRONG HERE!”

He was interrupted by Nagisa’s clear laughter bouncing against the tile walls. He clutched his knees for support, continuing for what Rei was beginning to feel was excessive.

“Thanks, Rei-chan,” he straightened, voice still quavering with a final giggle. “I do feel better.”

Rei’s shoulders were heaving like a storm-tossed rowboat.

“N— Nagisa-kun… w— Aah! Your race, you’ll be—“

“Don’t worry!” His feet patted along the damp concrete as he hopped off eagerly, carrying an enormous grin.

Rei stood twitching in place, mind feverishly trying to reconstruct the events that had just transpired and collapsing sadly in on itself.

“Ah, wait!” A few more slapping echoes and Nagisa was at his side again, patting sympathetically at as much of Rei’s hair as he could reach.

“Poor Rei-chan, your brain looks broken. Here,” Nagisa stood on tip-toe and tugged Rei’s head down, planting a firm, sympathetic kiss above his eyebrow.

“There, all better.”

“Wh—? Eh—? N—!”

But the blonde had scurried off brightly to take his place at the starting block. With pounding heart carving out canyons in his ribcage from embarrassment, Rei gathered himself up shakily and wobbled toward the lanes to watch the race begin.

Nagisa was crouched on the starting block like his toes were loaded with dynamite, and Rei less than casually observed the blonde’s complete change of demeanor behind his unconcealable grin.

Rei adjusted his glasses, noting that his teammate’s sudden burst of adrenaline would be invaluable to his swimming. Perhaps his strategy hadn’t been a complete disaster after all.

**Author's Note:**

> (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧


End file.
